Debts
by Mertiya
Summary: Song, left disillusioned and frustrated by the loss of her ostrich-horse, prepares to trek to work on foot on one of the hottest days of the summer. Can a chance or perhaps not-so-chance encounter restore her lost faith in humanity? One-shot.


Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, or Song or darling Zuko.

A/N: This little story just would not get out of my head until I wrote it, because it's one of the few things I think Avatar could've tied up better. I'm sure it's been done before, but I can promise you if it has, I haven't read it, so this is my 100% original take on it! Enjoy! R&R if you so desire! :)

**Debts**

A rooster crowed, and Song sighed and rolled over. She had kicked off most of her blankets during the night-it was _so_ ungodly hot.

"Song, breakfast!" her mother called.

Song was not looking forward to this morning. Despite all the festivities which had been going on lately, a testament to the end of the war, she was extremely tired. It was so terribly hot, and without Longneck she was forced to walk to the hospital every day to work. Well, at least there was the ever-present hope that with the end to the war and the defeat of the evil Firelord by the Avatar, her father might be able to return.

She pulled on her soft, cracked boots and began to make her way down the old, worn staircase. The railing had broken several weeks ago, and no one had found the time to fix it. Finally, Song had hammered a few pieces across the broken chunk, just so that no one fell through, but it looked awful. She wasn't very good at carpentry.

"What's for breakfast, Mother?" she asked, trying to smile.

"Toast and jam! Hanyong came by yesterday while you were at work and said he had an extra-good crop of strawberries, and he wanted to thank you for helping when his son was ill last winter."

"Oh, that was sweet of him, but shouldn't we save it for a special occasion?"

"Dear." Her mother stroked her hair as she sat down at their rickety old table. "You've been looking so peaky lately. I think you deserve a little pick-me-up. It's a pity we haven't any eggs, but…"

"Yeah." Song looked away. It was her own fault Longneck was gone; if she hadn't urged the scarred boy to come home to dinner-if she had spoken when she saw him taking the bird away-but somehow she couldn't. He seemed so badly hurt, and she'd thought at the time, maybe he needed to borrow their ostrich-horse. For several weeks, she kept looking up every time she heard a bird's croak, but it was never Longneck, and finally she was forced to conclude that the boy had just been a petty thief. She was so gullible…

She hadn't told her mother that she'd seen the boy take Longneck. She couldn't bear that her mother know what an idiot she'd been. Besides, she was paying for her foolishness.

"Are you sure you want to go into work today? You've been looking so thin and tired."

Song forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Besides, they really need my help at the hospital."

"You shouldn't be working so hard. This is a time of rejoicing."

_I'd rejoice if I had Longneck back_, she felt like saying. But it was her own fault, and it was wonderful that the war was over-though she didn't know what it would mean for them that the new Firelord was still from Sozin's family. She wondered if it was all a trick, if the Fire Nation would knuckle under to the Avatar for a few years, and then this-what was his name? Zuko-would lead them back to war.

Probably not. She ought to believe in the Avatar. But sometimes it was so difficult, and her leg was hurting, and she was still feeling so discouraged. What had happened? She used to _trust_ people. She used to talk to her patients. But lately-lately she'd started looking at them and wondering-what have you stolen? Did you get that wound fighting for us or were you secretly a member of the Fire Nation? Silly things…and she was nervous walking home. Even though they lived in a safe little town, she caught herself jumping at shadows.

The toast-and-jam tasted like cardboard. It was just too hot to be hungry, but she made herself eat it so that her mother wouldn't worry, before grabbing her bag and heading out to work.

The walk seemed especially long today. Sweat collected in her armpits and trickled down her limbs. Her dress stuck painfully to her scar, and she had to keep stopping to pull it away with a little yelp. The sun beat down on her dark hair, and she was starting to feel really dizzy. She just wished she could recover some of her normal optimism-but she was so _tired_, and there was just nothing to be optimistic about.

"Hi, Song!" called Insoon, one of the little girls that she sometimes watched. She was sitting out on her porch. "Where are you going?"

With an effort, she smiled and waved back. "Work!"

"But it's summer vacation!"

"Yes, but they need healers all the time!"

"Oh. Is it annoying, having to work all the time?"

Song shook her head. "I like it." She even managed to sound enthusiastic. "I have to go now, though."

"Okay. Will you come back and talk to me soon? It's lonely sometimes…"

Insoon's beloved older brother had not come back from the war. "Yes, of course I will."

She continued walking. When she glanced back a few minutes later, Insoon's small figure was still visible, though partially obscured by the ripples the heat left in the air.

She felt as if she were wrapped in a suffocating blanket of pure heat. It was like the first few agonizing breaths when she opened the oven to take out the bread. Her head was spinning as well. Grimly, she put one foot in front of the other, but the ground melted away from beneath her foot, and suddenly the yellow sand was coming toward her, billowing like a weird sail. It looked soft…

The impact sent pain juddering through her knees and then her chest. Her breath whooshed out, and she couldn't move. She tried to call for help, but nothing came from her mouth but a squeak.

She thought she would have to lose consciousness soon, but she didn't. She simply couldn't get her arms or legs to move. Grains of sand adhered to her sweat-soaked face, and she tried to moan, but there was no air left in her lungs.

_I'm going to die_. The thought surprised her, but it was logical. She was lying in the center of the long dirt road into town, but few people came to the village this way, as it was in the direction of the Fire Nation. She would lie here for hours, maybe, clinging onto life, and then the sun would bleach it from her body and perhaps her mother would find her body tomorrow…

Tears-precious moisture-squeezed out of her eyes. _Don't be stupid, Song_, she told herself. She wasn't going to die. Someone would find her. Someone would have to find her. Why, oh why couldn't she move? Why-a flash of heat passed through her, and finally she relaxed her tenuous hold on consciousness, her mind floating away into darkness like a balloon into the night.

The next thing she was aware of was the feeling of the earth trembling slightly beneath her. All she could see was the red of the inside of her eyelids. She tried to drag her eyes open, but sweat had caked on her eyelashes as effectively as glue. After a moment, she heard the irregular hoof-beats of a group of ostrich-horses, which slowed as they came closer.

Worried voices sounded tinny to her ears. "I think she's collapsed from the heat. We'd better get her somewhere-"

Then someone else, the voice vaguely familiar. "There's a good hospital nearby. I've been here before."

A hand on her shoulder rolled her body over onto its back. It jarred her leg, and she wished she could speak, but all she could manage was a faint moan. There was a pause.

"Firelord Zuko?" said the first voice.

"It's-nothing. Let's get her onto the ostrich-horse."

_Firelord Zuko_? What was the new Firelord doing _here_? Her body was passed from one pair of strong arms to another, which held her in a tight, too-hot embrace.

"Are you sure you're all right, Firelord?" If she'd been inclined to think that this was some kind of stupid masquerade, the utter deference in the voice would have dissuaded her.

"I'm _fine_!" snapped the Firelord's voice by her ear, and she gasped slightly, the small hitch in breath the only reaction her body allowed her to the shock. Not only had he stopped when he saw her, _the Firelord himself was holding her_. "Worry about the girl, not about me!"

"Yes, your lordship."

"Now come on!"

She had missed Longneck's awkward, half-hopping gait. Even half-dead with dehydration, Song felt a burst of happiness as the ostrich-horse moved forward, but the jolting of her scarred leg soon drove her pained mind to slip backwards into dark oblivion once again.

Someone was holding her hand, and there was a cold, damp cloth on her forehead. Her eyes and head felt reasonably clear, so she chanced blinking her eyes open. The first thing she saw was the pale green ceiling of the hospital. The second was her mother's concerned face.

"Song!" her mother exclaimed. "She's awake!" she said to someone beside the bed.

Song smiled slightly. "Mom," she whispered. "I had the weirdest dream when I was lying in the road. I dreamed that the Firelord-"

And then her mother leaned back and behind her was a boy with shamefaced eyes half-hidden behind messy black hair. It had grown out, but there was no disguising the mass of ruined flesh that narrowed his eye and shriveled his ear. "…Li?" She turned her face away.

"I'm here to apologize," he said. "For a long time, I was…confused…and I did a lot of stuff I wish I hadn't done." His voice was halting but earnest. "I shouldn't have taken your ostrich-horse. I'm really sorry. I came to make it up to you."

The voice nagged at her, because it seemed doubly-familiar. It was Li's voice, beyond a doubt, but mellowed and lacking some of the hard edge it had carried when they had shared stories and scars. Hadn't she heard this voice recently, too, as she fluttered on the edge of consciousness in a dream?

He was smiling, and she couldn't help but smile back. _See?_ said a little voice in the back of her mind. "I knew you'd come back," she whispered. _It just took him a little longer than I expected._

"I'm sorry it took me so long. I, uh, I'm afraid I lost your ostrich-horse." Heat flooded his cheeks and he ducked his head in shame. "I'm really sorry. I tried to find her, but I couldn't."

Song sighed. Well, it would've made things easier, but _an ostrich-horse for your faith in humanity back? Seems like a decent tradeoff._ "I'm sure you tried."

"So I thought I'd better get you a new one to replace her."

He ducked down for an instant and when he stood up again, he was holding a little ball of fluff in his arms. It fluttered tiny wings and made a squawk of protest as he sat it in her lap. "I thought you might like to raise him from a baby."

Song tangled her fingers in its downy feathers. "Oh! He's beautiful!"

Li ran nervous fingers through his hair. "Yeah, but then I thought, well, I didn't want you to have to wait to have something to ride because I was a jerk, so…" He ducked down again and this time handed her a scroll of paper. It was stamped with the seal of the Fire Nation, and she took it gingerly and unwrapped it. It was a certificate of ownership from the Fire Nation Riding School. Song had heard of them; they were famed for breeding the most intelligent ostrich-horses in the four kingdoms. Her eyes grew wide, and she tried to speak, but the words caught in her throat.

Li didn't seem to have noticed. "But, uh, that seemed like it was just really putting you back to Square One, and you had to put up with kind of a lot because I waltzed off with your ostrich-horse, so…" This time he the scroll he handed her was a lot thicker, and her fingers trembled as she opened it. More certificates of ownership tumbled out, this time from the Earth Nation Ostrich-Horse Breeders' Association. There were nine more ostrich-horses described.

"B-but I can't take this," she stammered, trying to hand them back to him.

"Please," he said, closing her hands over the paper. "You deserve it. And, um, then there's the little matter of thanking you…"

"Thanking me?"

"You were one of the people who helped me see what an idiot I was being, and I'm really grateful, so I got you this. Girls like jewelry, right? My girlfriend helped me pick it out."

He shoved a silver case into her lap and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"But-" she protested weakly.

"Please. Open it."

She forced fumbling fingers to work the catch. It sprang open to reveal a silver pendant in the shape of a flower, inlaid with a sparkling red stone. "It's a fire opal, and that's a lotus."

"Ohhh," she breathed. "But how can you possibly afford-"

"Oh, er, I-"

"Firelord Zuko, there's a message here for you from your uncle."

Li turned to the man who had spoken. "Um, thanks."

The necklace dropped from Song's fingers. "_You're the Firelord?_"

"Uh, well, yeah. I-I'm afraid I haven't managed to track down your dad yet, but…"

Song felt a smile brimming up inside her, something that hadn't happened in a very long time. "Thank you!" She flung her arms around the surprised Li and kissed him on the cheek. "Sorry-I hope your girlfriend won't be too jealous."

He shook his head. "It's fine. Please don't thank me, though. I was a total jerk, you deserve something to make it up to you. I'm just lucky I've got enough money that I can apologize properly."

Song ducked her head in embarrassment, then shook it quickly. "You apologized properly when you came back. All the rest is just trimmings. _Very_ much appreciated trimmings."

"I'm glad. Now you'd better get some rest or I think the nurse in charge is going to kick me across the room, Firelord or no Firelord."

Song settled back against the pillows. "Okay," she said contentedly and watched with slightly blurry vision as he began to walk away.

He halted partway across the room and turned. "I really think we've got a good chance of finding your dad," he said. "But I can't promise anything."

She shook her head. "I believe in you," she said, and he gave an awkward wave as he walked away.

When her father walked into the house two weeks later, Song wasn't a bit surprised.


End file.
